Branding And Your Blog – You Won’t Succeed Without It

I’d be a little hypocritical if I didn’t stay consistent with my own brand voice in this blog, but I’ll keep the shit down to a minimum so you can really get the message here.

There’s a common misconception going around that a brand is a logo, or a slogan. While those are definitely integral to your brand, it’s only the surface.

To put it simply, a brand is the emotional connection between people and your business. It can also be the association of a logo or a mascot, but that isn’t the key. Anyone can have a logo. It’s what that logo means to the consumer that launches businesses from 5-figure revenues to 7.

Here’s the best question you can ask when working on creating your brand: what are you really selling?

Sure, Nike sells athletic clothes. But that’s not what they’re really selling. They’re selling that anyone can be an athlete.

Coke isn’t selling a good carbonated beverage. They’re selling happiness in a bottle.

For any business, branding establishes one of the most difficult links to break between a customer and a product: an emotional one.

There are countless reasons why that’s so important from a marketing point of view. Recurring contact, emotional addiction, exposure, etc. Having an emotional line between you and your audience is the single most important thing to reach for when thinking about your marketing strategies. There’s nothing special about SmartWater – they just make you feel like there is.

For your blog, it becomes a P.O.D. (point of difference) thing; For instance, if you own a sports blog, what makes your sports blog different from the hundreds of others out there? It could be that you take a no-bullshit approach to your reporting – entirely unbiased. Or, it could be that your sports blog drastically favors a particular team and is violently vocal about it. Either way, it’s got to connect with your audience on an emotional level.

People don’t want to consume and do business with businesses. They want to do business with brands.

Advertising via traditional methods is a great way to establish that connection – but it isn’t the most effective. People are mistrusting of advertising.

That’s a HUGE difference. Even more so since your business will BE your blog.

So, how do you come up with your blog brand?

Well, the answer varies depending on your businesses age, products, goals, etc. But, for the most part, I can generalize.

1. Get Your Message Straight

Great, you’ve got the idea in your head. You want to start a blog on some of the best things in snowboarding. You’re going to have daily posts about finding the best spots, daily posts about the best gear, and daily posts about mastering different tricks.

Cool.

Who gives a shit?

2. Finding Your P.O.D.

No one gives a shit.

At least, not yet. We’ve got to find what makes your blog different than the rest of the snowboarding blogs out there. Which… yeah, there’s a ton of garbage out there, and there are some gems.

You don’t want to just be a gem with the rest of them.

Stand out.

Don’t just be a snowboarding blog. Be a snowboarding blog for experts.

Don’t just be a snowboarding blog for experts. Be a snowboarding blog for experts that are looking for a death wish.

Now we’re standing out. We’ve got a point of difference.

3. Translate That P.O.D. Across Everything

Your URL/blog name: DeathWishSnowboarding

Your logo: A badass skull with crossed snowboards behind it for bones.

Your blog: Do not lose the brand voice. Keep this consistent, or you’ll lose your readership. Write like you talk. Talk to your readers like they’re your shredding entourage. No formalities. No bullshit. No fear.

Your social media: The same goes for the content above – don’t lose your voice. Social media will play a huge part in driving traffic to your blog, so draw your readers in with that brass-balls tone that only snowboarders with a death wish would have.

As you can see, the brand sort of comes by itself when you find your P.O.D. Keep it simple, definable, and consistent. Your readers are there for the info, sure. But, they’re also there for you, for your brand. Think Fox News; Conservatives can get news from anywhere, but they want their info from the voice that only Fox has.

Without your own brand, your blog will die. It isn’t conjecture, or opinion. It’s the hard, nasty-ass truth.

Having a relatable brand is only one of the many tools that successful entrepreneurs use to create a million-dollar business. Stay on board and sign up for my newsletter to learn more about how you can do the same.

Stay Hungry Never Stop Striving!

Anthony Aires

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Anthony

Anthony Aires is a speaker, information and software publisher, and a trainer. He has been an entrepreneur for more than half his life. He started leveraging the internet in 2002 by implementing SEO to generate leads for his real estate brokerage in Downtown Boston. Since then Anthony has gone on to create, launch, manage, and sell several internet businesses and brands while generating 7 figures in revenues. But he'll be the first to tell you he worked his ass off to get to where he is and it was a bumpy road having to declare bankruptcy twice in his life. You might not like the truth's he speaks, but at least you know you're always getting an honest answer!